Yes, there is a formula for successful pitches. Sam Horn shares secrets to selling your idea based on her extensive work with successful entrepreneurs, best-selling authors and speakers.

Did you know there is a woman who has helped countless entrepreneurs raise
funds, aspiring authors to land book deals, and speakers to deliver edge-of-your
seat keynotes?

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Her name is Sam Horn, award-winning speaker and author of Pop!
Stand out in Any Crowd. Sam is the official pitch coach for Springboard
Enterprises which has helped raise $5 Billion in venture funding for companies
such as ZipCar and Constant Contact. She also serves a who’s who of blue chip
clients such as HP, NASA, Cisco, Intel, and Kaiser Permanente.

While speaking at the Invent Your Future Conference, I had the chance to catch
up with Sam to learn more about her techniques and her forthcoming book, Win
Buy-In.

Adrian: What’s an example of a winning pitch opener that
gets attention?

Sam: That reminds me of a coaching session I had with Kathleen Callender, founder of Pharmajet, who said, “Sam, my pitch is only 10 minutes?! How am I going
to talk about my invention, subcutaneous inoculations, clinical trials, and
financials in only 10 minutes?”

I said, “Actually, you don’t have ten minutes. Investors make up their
mind in the first 60 seconds whether you’re worth their valuable time, mind and
dime.” So here’s what we came up with:

Did you know that there are more than 1.8 billion vaccinations given every
year?

Did you know that half are given with re-used needles?

Did you know that we are spreading and perpetuating the very diseases
we are trying to prevent?

Imagine if there were a painless, one-use needle for a fraction of the
current cost.

You don’t have to imagine it … we’ve created it. And in this presentation
about Pharmajet [share your evidence ]

Adrian: That’s a great example. Now, let’s dissect your approach. How
can people apply this technique to communicating their ideas?

Sam: First, Get Context by answering three questions:

What’s an upcoming project or communication where you want funding, support
or a yes?

Who’s the decision-maker? Rather than giving a vague description, given
him or her a name and pinpoint their frame of mind? (i.e. skeptical, impatient,
perfectionist, supportive)

What do you want that person to do at the end of your presentation? For
example, do you want them to buy your product? Provide funding? Sign a one
year contract?

Second, Envision three things your decision-makers don’t know about your
issue or topic that they would like to know. Keep that decision-maker in
mind as you craft your opening. Ask yourself:

What’s a startling statistic about my offering I can attribute to a recent,
respectable source? It’s very important to cite a credible source because
you need the gravitas to establish trust that what you’re saying is credible
and measurable.

What popular trend or event could I reference that proves this issue has growing
significance? For example, “Did you see the TED talk where they said
‘Water is the new oil?”

What other surprising insights could I introduce that would help them care
about the problem I’m solving? Here’s an example I recently developed with
a European client:

Did you know fishing fleets are losing millions /day because killer
whales and dolphins get caught in their nets and they have to cut them
out which means they lose all their fish?

Did you know some fishing boat crews are resorting to killing the
dolphins and killer whales to keep them out of their nets?

Did you know dolphins and whales are the only animals in the sea
that have sonar?

When we tell our audience something they don’t know–but would like to know–about the scale or scope of the issue we’re addressing, it pulls them in and
motivates them to want to know more.

Third, Engage Their Right Brain: Use the word “imagine” so
they are right brain engaged, seeing what we’re saying and picturing our point.
Here’s what we came up with in the dolphin example:

Imagine if you could create a sound, like fingernails scraping across
a chalkboard, that only killer whales and dolphin could sense. Imagine that
unpleasant sound could harmlessly keep dolphins and whales away from nets
so fishermen don’t have to kill them and they still catch their fish and don’t
lose money.

Adrian: So tell me more about the choice of words here. The fingernails
on the chalkboard and re-used needles made me cringe.

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Sam: That’s the power of using words that are visceral and visual. You
want to get a reaction because it means people are processing what you’re saying
rather than being preoccupied.

Adrian: These words really bring the story to life. Anything else you
would like to add about this approach?

Sam: Great ideas are like great art. They work from every angle. The
more you look at them the more they reveal. That’s why it’s important to start
with questions. They transform communication from being a monologue into a dialogue.
Questions engage. Declarations sit on the page.

As Johnny Depp said, “No one wants to go out mid-sentence.” We
don’t want people nodding off in the middle of our idea.

To find more examples and further information about the 60 second or less approach
to gaining buy-in learn more at SamHorn.com